During the latest test, the rocket gained a new admirer in Donald Trump. In his victory speech on presidential election night, he described watching the flight and feeling like he was “in a movie.”
“I called Elon. I said: Elon, was that you? He said yes. I said: who else can do this? Can Russia do it? No. Can China do it? No. Can the United States do it other than you?
“I said, that’s why I love you, Elon, that’s awesome.”
The boss of SpaceX spent tens of millions of dollars to support the Republican’s campaign, and in exchange landed an advisory position – ignoring possible conflicts of interest, SpaceX having numerous contracts in progress with the American government.
Daytime landing
Takeoff for this sixth flight is scheduled from 4:00 p.m. local time (10:00 p.m. GMT) from the company’s Starbase space base in the far south of Texas.
The objectives will be largely similar to the previous test.
The rocket is made up of the Super Heavy first stage (70 meters high) and, above it, the Starship spacecraft (50 m), which by extension gives its name to the entire launcher.
After propelling the ship, Super Heavy detaches from it and begins its descent. In October, rather than ending its course in the sea as in the past, it had succeeded in an unprecedented maneuver: returning to its firing point.
Just before hitting the ground, mechanical arms installed on the launch tower, nicknamed “the wands”, closed around him and immobilized him.
For its part, the Starship continued its flight until landing in the Indian Ocean.
The same choreography is on the agenda for Tuesday, with however a daytime landing for the vessel, in order to encourage visual observations. Tests on the thermal shield are also planned.
March in 2 years?
All these flights represent real challenges for a machine of this size. Several of the first tests ended in explosions.
And in a video posted at the end of October by Elon Musk, showing him playing a video game, a man in the background reporting on the fifth test recounts how SpaceX was “one second” away from ordering the rocket crashing next to the launch tower.
The development of Starship is being carried out vigorously by the company, launching prototypes without cargo, in order to quickly correct the problems encountered in real flight situations.
“The first Starships to Mars will take off in two years,” Elon Musk recently said. “These flights will be unmanned in order to test the reliability of an intact landing on Mars.”
“If these landings go well, the first crewed flights to Mars will take place in four years,” added the boss, known for his very optimistic predictions.
Donald Trump has said he wants to send such missions to Mars before the end of his term.
For his new space sidekick, the ultimate goal is to build “a self-sufficient city on the red planet within 20 years”.
